A Fantastic Life
by TenRose4ever
Summary: A holographic image of Rose (or rather Bad Wolf) flickered to life before him. "So many potential timelines, but only one is the correct one. Your destiny awaits, my Doctor." The TARDIS doors flew open. "See what your future holds."


To celebrate this date (9/9) a story about Nine! Written for a prompt from TimePetalsPrompts, over on Tumblr: _Daddy!Nine: love at first sight._ A bit of a different take on this prompt… but I know well enough not to fight the muse. This is fluffy and bittersweet. Kid fic/baby fic. Be warned. May be considered part of my "These Two Hearts" series… perhaps the only part to feature the lovely Ninth Doctor.

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 **A Fantastic Life**

The Doctor staggered back into the TARDIS with Rose cradled in his arms. He had only minutes left. Already he could feel the burning tendrils of the Vortex twist and tear through his body, and in their wake, his devastated cells began to regenerate, setting his body on fire. It was all too much, too fast. But there had been no other way.

He gently laid Rose's crumpled form on the TARDIS grating, taking a moment to gaze at her in wonder. This stupid, little, human girl; this brave, fantastic creature with only one life, had somehow managed to survive direct contact with the Time Vortex. But how? How was it even possible? He had saved her, true. Taken the Vortex right out of her. And into himself. How was it that _he_ was burning up, with all his superior physiology, after only moments, yet she lay there, safe, unharmed after prolonged exposure?

He turned to the TARDIS console, sending her back into the Vortex where they would be safe for the time being.

Of course! That was it! The TARDIS. The TARDIS had been controlling Rose's exposure, protecting her, shielding her, working in partnership with her to create Bad Wolf. But once Rose stepped out of those doors and the TARDIS lost direct contact… the shields had weakened and had started to crumble.

"You should have left well enough alone!" He raged at the TARDIS through their telepathic link. "She had a chance to have a fantastic life. She had a chance…" He slumped over the console, despair weakening him further.

The TARDIS zapped him with a brief but painful shock.

"Oi! Already dyin' here, if you don't mind. Don't need _you_ chivvyin' me along, ta!"

The TARDIS gave him the telepathic equivalent of an eye roll, followed by a reassuring hum… and a strong message that he should "brace himself".

He had just grabbed hold of the edge of the console when the TARDIS convulsed, engines at full intensity, shuddering in a jarring flight to who-knew-where. "How are you doing that? Stop it, right now."

Two words flashed through his mind. "BAD WOLF".

He whipped around to see Rose still lying supine, safe on the floor where he had left her. At least she didn't seem to be in any further danger.

"Now is not the time to be sight-seeing!" he shouted above the noise of the rotors, as the landing sequence initiated.

A holographic image of Rose (or rather Bad Wolf) flickered to life before him. "So many potential timelines, but only one is the correct one. Your destiny awaits, my Doctor." The TARDIS door flew open. "See what your future holds." She pressed into his mind, deluging him with images of potential timelines, ones that she had tweaked and set in motion, guided and shaped: his future; Rose's future.

"No! No, no, no! Why did you do this?" He frantically pushed buttons and spun wheels and pulled levers, but the TARDIS refused to move. Regeneration energy boiled through his veins. All he could feel now was pain and panic.

The ethereal voice of the hologram halted his frenzy: "Your future will be filled with love and laughter, heartache and separation, undying love and endless devotion. A future that spans universes."

She waved her hand and his pain abated. He gaped at the hologram.

"You will _still_ regenerate, Doctor. I have… suspended the change for a short time. Go… go out and see your future."

Bewildered, the Doctor stepped carefully over Rose's unconscious form, down the ramp to the open doors. The sun shone over… Earth. The TARDIS had landed in a lush, green park. Children played at a nearby playground, and Zeppelins cruised overhead (that was new.)

"Daddy!"

He tore his gaze from the wonders in the sky to the source of the small voice. Running toward him on unsteady legs was a child, a little girl of not quite three years old, with a wispy mane of buoyant, brown hair.

"Daddy!" She wrapped her chubby arms around his knees, and looked up at him with whisky-brown eyes, flecked with gold. He knew those eyes. Unbidden, love filled his hearts at the sight of this strange child.

He carefully unwrapped himself from her grip, and crouched down to her eye level, steadying her, engulfing her hands in his. "I'm not your Daddy, sweetheart."

She beamed at him, her tiny pink tongue peeking out the corner of her mouth. "Yes you are, silly!" she singsonged.

She placed an artless, wet kiss on his cheek and he gasped as her loving presence poured into his mind, filling all the spaces left empty by the decimation of his people. In shock, he stood up, his hands dropping to his sides.

"See? You're my Daddy! Come on, Daddy! Run!" The child seized his finger, and tugged, pulling him helplessly across the grass toward the playground.

His hearts were thumping, not from exertion, but in anticipation and excitement, as his attention was drawn to a bench next to the playground where a woman with blonde hair sat with her back toward them.

"Mummy! Mummy! I _told_ you Daddy would come."

The Doctor preened, a smug smile dancing over his face. The child clearly spoke well above the standard level for her age… for humans.

"Don't be silly, darling," the woman chided, softly. "Daddy got called in today on an emergency. You know that."

The Doctor gaped at the sound of her voice. Though, why he should be surprised, he didn't know. She had done nothing but surprise him since the night they met.

"Mummy, look! He's right _here_!"

Rose turned and her eyes locked with his, shock and recognition playing over her features in equal measure. She stood up, lifting a baby, cradled in her arms, to her shoulder as she came around the bench towards him. She lifted a hand to his cheek. "I… I remember something about this…" Her eyes darted to the distant form of the TARDIS. "I… no Bad Wolf… brought you here. We opened a gap to bring you here… to show you. Oh, Doctor!"

He longed to wrap his arms around her, to press her close to his throbbing hearts and never let her go, but the child she held in her arms and the one still grasping his finger made that impossible.

"I see you've met Hope." Rose grinned. "She's a force to be reckoned with! And this… this one 'ere, Doctor, this is Charlie. Charlotte, actually. Named for Charles Dickens."

"Named for the man himself! Oh, Rose… she's beautiful! And _not_ just for a human!" He chuckled, peering at the downy, golden curls of the infant. "They both are!" He looked at Rose: a little older, wiser, and every bit as lovely as the Rose who lay safe in the TARDIS. "And you… you are too..."

Rose flushed prettily. "I've packed a basket for a picnic. You could join us…"

"I don't think I have much time, Rose." He spread his fingers, glancing at his hands, expecting to see the golden pulses of regeneration energy beneath the skin.

"You have time, my Doctor," her eyes glowed briefly, "for this."

"Alright, then." He clapped his hands, rubbing them together in anticipation. _He_ would never be accused of looking a gift horse in the mouth. "I'm in!"

"There's a blanket in the basket on the bench. Maybe we could set up under that tree there, yeah?"

He and Hope soon had the blanket spread. He sat down and Rose handed him Charlie as she went about setting out the plates of banana sandwiches, and poured tea from the thermos. He stared in wonder at the child in his arms, and as Hope nestled against him, and his free arm draped around her, his hearts swelled with such love as he had never known before. He lifted his eyes to Rose, tears streaming over his cheeks. She pressed her lips together, a sad smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.

Hope soon had turned his mind to other things as she convinced him to recount adventures of him and her Mummy. "Because, I've never heard you tell them with _this_ voice," she explained.

"And how, Young Miss, did you know who I was?"

She scrunched up her face in admonishment. "You look and sound different on the outside, but in _here_ ," she poked him on the forehead, "and in _here_ ," she placed a hand over his hearts, "you are _exactly_ the same."

"Can't argue with that logic, me." He peered down his nose at her. "You're too smart for your own good, I'll wager." As Rose laughed her agreement, he launched into the story of how he had met her.

An hour later he knew that it was time to go.

He hugged the girls tight and told them how much he loved them, and oh, how true it was. Love at first sight. As he turned to Rose, she met him with a passionate kiss and warm fingers tickling the short hair at the back of his neck. "I love you," she whispered.

"I… erm… I love you too, Rose Tyler. More than you can ever know."

"Don't worry. I know. I always have. Git!" She swatted his leather clad arm.

"Ow!"

She offered a watery, tongue-tipped smile. "Now off with you! You have a whole future ahead of you."

"Please Rose, have a fantastic life. Do that for me. Have a fantastic life."

"We will. We do. Together. You do domestic very well, as it turns out, Doctor."

He rolled his eyes. "Oh, I suppose it'll be worth it… as long as you're there with me."

"Better with two, yeah?"

"Yeah… Right then. I'm off." Quashing his heartsache, he turned and strode toward his TARDIS, not looking back until he opened the door. He looked back to wave to his little family. As hard as he tried to engrain the image in his memory, he knew he would have to forget this moment until Rose told his future self about it later that day.

He stepped through the TARDIS doors, and felt the searing burn of regeneration wash over him once again. He wouldn't be seeing the future with this daft, old face, but he _would_ be seeing the future. And what a fantastic future it was going to be.


End file.
